Foreign Agent-book reviewJune 14, 2016

BooksJune 14, 2016

​By B.J. Brett

Foreign Agent

Once upon a time, America had statesmen heroes like Scot Harvath and Brad Thor who took protecting the land of the free seriously.

​But now with the security of the United States at stake, our country is suffering from Washington, D.C. politicians who are not willing to see or speak of the terror that is spreading all over the world. Indeed, Western Civilization is at risk, and instead of Churchillian men at the helm of state, we have spineless, unseeing appeasers who either don’t want to-or can’t-connect the dots

That Brad Thor’s literary alter ego, Scot Harvath, is a champion who fights for the right is one of the reasons that Thor’s newest thriller, Foreign Agent, is such a delicious pleasure. Another, though, is that this page-turner of a novel is a riveting, nerve-tingling cliffhanger.

The novelist, whose 14 books have sold more than 11 million copies across the globe, proves, with Foreign Agent (his 15th book), that he’s at the top of his spine-chilling, heart-racing game. While our government is blaming everyone for Islamo-Nazi atrocities--faulting inanimate guns for the killing spree of jihadists, and turning-the-cheek to a savage enemy--Horvath comes to America’s rescue.

From the first, readers will be tantalized by the novel’s intrigue, mystery, drama, and action. As I read the gripping, can’t-put-it-down thriller, I felt frustrations melt away as I entered the logical, the just, and the rational world of Brad Thor’s Foreign Agent.

The story begins with an attack on an American military group near Syria. This is just the first of bloody assaults on Americans, which escalate in various spots around the world--and which even end up at the door of the White House. In an attempt to stop the growing horror, and catch the evildoers, Harvath races across European capitals and the Middle East.

Brad Thor

​But as he hunts for the deadly assassin, he discovers that the bloody killer is hiding in Russia. The butcher that Harvath has been trying to capture—or kill--is Sacha Baseyev, a man who survived a childhood tragedy, which motivates his manic hatred. He has absorbed the terror of his youth to become a rabid monster, and is now on a secret mission to kill as many Americans as he can.

What follows is a series of human carnage documented on videos sent to the President, and also revealed to the public. Of course, Harvath, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, goes into breathtaking action.

Harvath has still more on his mind, though. He is drawn romantically to Lara, but their affair is complicated. They met in Thor’s earlier Hidden Order book, and were together again in Code of Conduct, and now in Foreign Agent. Harvath is still in love with her, but there is a work-related problem. Lara has been offered a terrific job, but if she takes it, she will have to live in Boston, while Harvath has to stay in Washington, D.C.

Harvath doesn’t believe that a long-distance relationship can work, but he can’t afford to think about his personal life right then and there. He has to focus on more crucial events, such as the mounting deaths of Americans.

Of course, the story of ISIS terrorists is incredibly timely as jihadists have, in real life, killed innocents in Paris, Brussels, California, Texas, and a few days ago in Orlando, Florida. That may explain why Foreign Agent feels so authentic--but then, Thor’s storyteller’s skill has a lot to do with the novel’s visceral atmosphere.

Furthermore, the thriller provides a therapeutic experience. Harvath never comes up with excuses, does not confuse wishes and desires with reality, and relentlessly battles against our enemies. He is often politically incorrect, at which time, we want to yell out “Bravo,” especially when he metes out a harsh, and well-deserved justice to the enemy.

In these dangerous times, Foreign Agent is the book we’ve been waiting for. It was finally released today. Before you begin reading, though, cancel all appointments and shut off the phone. You won’t be able to tear yourself away from its exciting pages.

Foreign Agent by Brad Thor. Published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books, June 14, 2016.